Two investigations of preschool children's relative dependence upon contextual and linguistic information to discriminate between speech acts revealed that younger subjects' discrimination of each speech act appeared relatively unaffected by reduction of linguistic information, while older subjects' performance was adversely affected. (Author/CB)

Describes children's process of constructing their own knowledge by going through one level after another of being "wrong" and relates this process to reading. Describes six strategies children invent and discusses implications for teaching. (AS)

Content bias of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) was investigated with dominant English- and dominant Spanish-speaking Mexican American preschoolers. The identified item bias (mostly against the Spanish language group) is discussed in terms of information overload on memory as influenced by language differences in word length and…

Theoretical views regarding the cognitive processes of summarization are reviewed and some of the specific cognitive operations involved in summarization are considered. It is argued that the cognitive demands of summarization are dependent upon the qualities of the text to be summarized. (Author/LMO)

Examines previous hypotheses of the causes of dyslexia. Proposes that dyslexia results from a subtle language deficiency rather than from defects in the visual system. Discusses current theories and assesses instructional strategies for dyslexics. (ML)

Reviews several experiments which examined the cognitive function of finger writing, an activity widely used by Japanese people and thought to be related to Kanji learning. Children and university students performed either Kanji anagram tasks or English word tasks. Finger writing appears to originate from the existence of motoric or action-based…

Assesses children's comprehension of "because" and "so" on enactment and sentence completion tasks. Results provide evidence against a componential model for the acquisition of causal connectives. Supported is the position that understanding of relational terms is initially context dependent; linguistic development generates…

Processing of verbal analogies was evaluated by recording eye fixation patterns during solution of problems that represented a broad range of difficulty. Findings on easier problems replicated previous work. On difficult items, high verbal ability individuals adapted processing strategies to a greater extent then did low ability students.…

Comparison of the cue usage of English/Dutch and Dutch/English bilinguals with varying amounts of second language exposure to that of native speaker control groups reveals that, with increasing exposure, cue usage in the second language gradually shifts from that appropriate to the first language to that appropriate for the second. (Author/CB)

Discusses the sources of information in oral language. Uses converging evidence from prosody, pausing, structural and semantic parallelism, and stylistic analysis to argue for a series of hypotheses about the units that organize the construction of narrative discourse. Provides examples and appendixes. (JD)

Two explanations for text summarization deficiencies among older learners were investigated. Results of the study confirmed deficiencies documented in the literature but with some specificity for source of the deficit and for age level. Specific instructional remedies are proposed. (Author/LMO)

Verbal analogical reasoning tasks are described as potentially valuable in the assessment and management of subtle linguistic defects less easily detected by standardized language tests. Semantic and structural factors that should be considered in the development of verbal analogies as test items are cited, as well as adaptations for nonreaders.…

This study extends the previous literature by identifying different subtypes of language disability within learning disabled children. Results indicate that six language subtypes can be derived and that they are both internally consistent and externally valid, being differentially linked to reading and math achievement over a three-year period.…

Contains citations for journal articles, books, dissertations, and materials in the ERIC system on the subjects of writing, language, literature, and teacher education. (SRT)

The present experiment tested a strategy, developed from principles on general text processing, for learning technical material. The effectiveness of cooperative learning was examined as a technique for learning technical information. Results showed that cooperative learning and technical learning strategies were effective for acquiring structural…